Lecture on Cryptocurrency

On 18th December 2021, a guest lecture on Cryptocurrency was conducted. The resource person was Dr. Parag Waknis, Associate Professor of Economics, Ambedkar University Delhi. Dr. Waknis started the session by stating the name cryptocurrency is a misnomer. He prefers to call it crypto assets as it is not a proper currency yet and needs to be converted to one of the fiat currencies to utilize it. He talked a little about the emergence of Cryptocurrency from bitcoin and how it gained momentum after the demonization of India. The Mint stated that India has the highest number of crypto owners globally, and Dr. Waknis predicted that it would acquire similar traction to that of gold. The entire guest lecture was taken in context to Bitcoin as it was the first-ever Cryptocurrency and had the highest value. The excellent feature of bitcoin is that it is available in limited quantity, and it is getting harder to mine it, and this scarcity increases its value. These currencies do not have a digital presence and are very volatile. No common factors were identified that could predict the fluctuating value of this currency. Dr. Waknis made the lecture more interesting by displaying numerous graphs that showed the fluctuating value of the money and its comparison with the value of gold. He also explained the transaction processing of currencies and the payment system in simple terms. He also gave his opinion of the RBI regulation regarding Cryptocurrency and said that the government has a right to its citizen’s income; therefore, private cryptos are not a good choice. The whole session was very interactive, and the students had many questions which was taken up by Dr. Waknis.